Jean-Claude Gaudin, former mayor of Marseille, has died aged 84, according to information from France Bleu Provence confirmed by H24 MEDIA

He died in Saint-Zacharie, in the Var department. Gaudin was mayor of Marseille for 25 years, from 1995 to 2020, and was also Minister for the City in Alain Juppé’s government, president of the region, metropolis and vice-president of the Senate, devoting his entire life to politics.

Born on 8 October 1939 in Mazargues, a district of Marseille, Jean-Claude Gaudin was the only son of a bricklayer and a factory worker. He began his political career in 1965 when he was elected as a local councillor on the Socialist-Centrist list led by Gaston Defferre. At the age of 26, he was the youngest municipal councillor in Marseille. In 1974, he took part in Valéry Giscard d’Estaing’s presidential campaign, and in 1978 became a UDF deputy for the 2nd constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône, a seat he held until 1989.

Gaudin dreams of becoming mayor of Marseille

In 1983, he led the opposition list against Gaston Defferre, before becoming president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in 1986, a position he held until 1998. He was re-elected deputy in 1988, but failed again in the 1989 municipal elections against Robert Vigouroux. However, in 1989, he fulfilled his dream of becoming a senator for Bouches-du-Rhône.

In June 1995, Gaudin was elected mayor of Marseille. He also became Minister for Regional Planning, Urban Affairs and Integration in the Juppé II government and Chairman of the new Marseille-Provence-Métropole urban community the same year. In 2008, he began his third term as mayor and senator, and in 2014, his fourth term as mayor and was re-elected to the Senate. In 2015, he became president of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis, but turned down a seat on the Constitutional Council offered by Gérard Larcher, president of the Senate.

Jean-Claude Gaudin gradually withdrew from political life. In June 2017, he announced that he would not stand for re-election in the 2020 municipal elections, supporting first Bruno Gilles and then Martine Vassal. In September 2017, he resigned as senator due to the ban on holding multiple offices. During his political career, he had held more than 120 different offices. In September 2018, he stepped down as president of the metropolitan authority, succeeded by Martine Vassal. In November 2018, the end of his fourth term of office was marked by the collapse of buildings on Rue d’Aubagne, killing eight people and earning him fierce criticism for his inaction. This tragedy came back to haunt his last city council meeting on 27 January 2020.